x11/xconsole not showing any output

[Polytropon]

On Sun, 29 May 2016 22:04:13 +0200 (CEST), Marco Beishuizen wrote:
> I recently started to use x11/xdm. After logging in and when X starts, 
> xconsole is also started. I thought it would be nice to follow the console 
> messages in X instead of switching with Ctrl+Alt+F1 all the time.

It's a very convenient way to check console messages, other than
repeating "dmesg" in an X terminal and checking what's new. :-)



> XConsole is executed in /usr/local/lib/X11/xdm/Xsetup_0 and afaik it 
> should display the messages from /dev/console. But I get the impression 
> that xconsole is linked to ttyv8 (where X is started), instead of ttyv0 
> (where all the console messages go to).
> 
> So how can I configure xconsole so that it shows the messages from 
> /dev/console? I've tried to edit Xsetup_0 with the -file option but this 
> does not make a difference.

Are the console permissions set properly? Check if xdm-config does
have the following (or applying) lines:

	DisplayManager._0.setup:        /etc/X11/xdm/Xsetup_0
	DisplayManager._0.startup:      /etc/X11/xdm/GiveConsole
	DisplayManager._0.reset:        /etc/X11/xdm/TakeConsole

In your case, the paths will probably be different, but check the
content of the GiveConsole and TakeConsole scripts: They make sure
your user will actually be able to read from the console (as it's
initially owned by root, and only has rw-/---/--- permissions).

When you are then logged in, check "ls -l /dev/console", and you
should see something similar to this:

	% ll /dev/console
	crw-------  1 poly  wheel    0,   5 2016-05-29 18:38:20 /dev/console

If this is _not_ the case, xconsole doesn't work as expected.


-- 
Polytropon
Magdeburg, Germany
Happy FreeBSD user since 4.0
Andra moi ennepe, Mousa, ...